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Kamran Sharma: Israel -- Empower both sides to connect with each other

Posted:
05/10/2014 01:00:00 AM MDT

I have yet to identify myself on either side of the Israel-Palestine conflict. However, I do know that something needs to be done. Peace talks that once looked promising seem to be falling apart. With Israeli officials, talking about the lesser rights of Palestinians living in Israeli-occupied area is becoming a possibility, something needs to be done quickly.

In my opinion, it’s time to try a different approach. Recently, I went to a panel discussion at the Conference on World Affairs, at CU-Boulder, regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict. The panelists provided rich context into the conflict and many great ideas on how to bring this drawn-out conflict to an end. One woman in particular, who works for the organization, Just Vision, provided an idea for the solving the conflict, which I believe would be a great solution.

Her plan included empowering and connecting the civil societies on both sides of the conflict. The connection of lawyers, community organizers, nonprofit organizations, etc., would bring about a vast amount of networks, which could all be leveraged to create successful non-violent movements.

These movements would lead to a resolution to this conflict. The United States government should maybe begin focusing on solving this issue through civil society, like organizations such as Just Vision work to do.

I believe this can be a very effective way to achieve peace between the two nations. The United States government and the rest of the world might realize it could be beneficial to fix conflicts through civil society, rather than attempting to do it solely through governments.

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If this plan could be effective, I believe it could become a very useful model to achieve peace, which could have application in a vast amount of inter-nation disputes.

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